Dover-Sherborn Letters to the Editor: We'll miss you, John

Thursday

Our next-door neighbor of 18 years — the kindest, most generous, happy person John, accidentally fell to his death last Friday in Maine.

You know you’re an adult when you have to go outside and play with your 8-year-old as if everything is OK when the world has been turned upside down.

Our next-door neighbor of 18 years — the kindest, most generous, happy person John, accidentally fell to his death last Friday in Maine.

The night before he left, John played outside in our backyard with Ava and my husband. He talked of how he couldn’t wait to leave at 530 a.m. Friday to be with his guy friends in Maine. He loved our Ava and our Ava loved him. She would go into the backyard and just yell his name “John.” “John.” “John.” And if he was home and outside he would always, always come over. Hold his arms open wide and she would run in to them.

The saying is true. You don’t appreciate people until they are gone. We just thought John would be here forever. He and my husband are buddies. They each mow both yards. I laugh at their dueling tractors. He was like family to us. Cookouts. Burning piles. Chopping wood. When my husband had surgery, he picked up 100 percent of the mowing for a month or more.

John — you will be sooooo very missed. We miss you already. Walking up the hill in my backyard tonight I had tears in my eyes knowing I would never see your smiling face and happy greeting again.